This is Bob Harrison. In 2008 USA Today did an article on him and he’s probably still going. I love spring training baseball because there are many of these older fellows in the stands with their notepads and in their favorite spots. (Spring training is a wonderful place, attend if you ever get a chance. I once spent about an hour listening to this older gentleman before a Giants game, and the only time he stopped talking about the olden days came when he whistled Roger Craig over and motioned for the SF skipper to sign his baseball. Craig did it without saying a word).

Scouts don’t talk to people at baseball games, and I’ve never run into any of them at a hockey game. I’d love (and I mean LOVE) to spend a couple of hours with a hockey scout. I don’t really care about specific players, but would like to know the process they go through in deciding which players are better than the others ones of similar talents. I’m not one of those who believes scouts have no value, in fact most people would have to give great credit to the 30 NHL scouts for getting it right year after year. It is extremely rare for a true impact player to be drafted outside the top 6, to the point where when it happens the player becomes so famous for that one thing that it remains a top bullet point on the resume for the entire length of their career. I’d love to know what they see, the nuance, the separation.

The Oilers are meeting in Kelowna this week to make the list. Someone in that room is going to sway opinion in Hall’s direction or in Seguin’s; most of all, I’d like to know how you win an argument when the two talents seem so equal. It’s a dangerous game, this scouting team may end up being known as the one that “let —— get away”; but there is also glory in getting it right.

Godspeed, gentlemen.

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